According to the Service’s estimates,the world’s ONLY wild population
of red wolves has declined by as much as half of what it was only a year
ago when an estimated 100 red wolves lived within the five county red
wolf recovery area in North Carolina.

That would doom the red wolf to extinction
in the wild, with the last remaining wild red wolves trapped and placed
in zoos and nature centers.

Sierra Weaver, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law
Center who represents conservation groups in the 60-day notice of intent
to sue the agency, said, “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must rededicate
itself to ensuring the survival of America’s rarest wolf and restore the
former successful recovery of this endangered species.” Following the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s announcement in June
of its authorization of the kill and termination of reintroductions, the
notice letter details the agency’s failure to investigate the recent
decline of the wild wolves and status, actions or management that harm
the survival of red wolves, and how best to recover wild red wolves as
required by law.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to step up work to help
this species get back on the road to recovery, not stop releasing
wolves,” said Jason Rylander, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife,
said. “Red wolves are endangered because they need protection and
effective management to thrive. Allowing the killing of a breeding
female wolf is the exact opposite of managing red wolves for recovery.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally
authorized the killing of a critically endangered female red wolf within
the Red Wolf Recovery Area in eastern North Carolina. Tracking data
showed the collared female red wolf was exhibiting denning behavior. The
loss of any breeding adult red wolf is a significant setback to
recovery of this critically endangered species.Since 2007, the USFWS has NOT conducted the five-year status review
required by the ESA to inform recovery and management efforts.

Despite
its failure to conduct such a review, the USFWS announced in June that
it would suspend the reintroduction of red wolves into eastern North
Carolina, a practice that has been critical to maintaining the
population and an integral part of the agency’s own adaptive management
plan.“It is nonsensical for the USFWS to haphazardly authorize the killing
of a mother red wolf when the population is on the precipice and in
serious danger,” said Tara Zuardo, wildlife attorney at AWI.

“There is NO evidence that this wolf was causing any harm, or that the agency
previously tried to humanely move her off the property. At this point,
there appears to be no difference between being able to kill a coyote or
a red wolf—just which agency you request a permit from.”Under the Endangered Species Act, it is unlawful for anyone to “take”
(i.e., harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture,
or collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct) a red wolf, except
in limited circumstances.

Federal regulations authorize the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to issue permits to take red wolves on private
property after a property owner requests that wolves be removed from
property and the Service abandons efforts to capture them.

No removal
effort was made before the agency authorized the killing of the female
red wolf exhibiting denning behavior.

North Carolina is home to the ONLY wild population of red wolves. Red wolves bred in captivity were reintroduced on a North Carolina
peninsula within their native range in the late 1980’s after red wolves
were declared extinct in the wild.Once common throughout the Southeast,
intensive predator control programs and loss of habitat decimated wild
red wolf populations.THERE MAY BE A FEW READERS WHO GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THIS, AND FOR THOSE FEW, THERE IS A LETTER YOU CAN DIGITALLY SIGN THAT WILL BE SENT TO THE 'ENTITIES' LISTED BELOW, OR YOU CAN EMAIL THEM YOURSELVES, IF YOU'D CARE TO, BUT THE TEA ROOM IS UNCONVINCED OF THE CURRENT STATUS OF THOSE EMAIL ADDRESSES.DIGITALLY SIGN A LETTER AT http://wildsouth.org/lovetheredwolf/

Less than a quarter of one percent, 0.23%, of the American cattle
inventory was lost to native carnivores and dogs in 2010, according to a
Department of Agriculture report.

The government’s own data show that the real killers of cattle are
not a few endangered wolves or other wildlife – it’s illness and
weather. Yet, the predation myth has directly contributed to a federal,
100-year, paramilitary assault on millions of native carnivores.

WILL FACTS CHANGE AMERICAN MINDS?PROBABLY NOT.

WHEN
AMERICA CAN'T FIND THE INTESTINAL FORTITUDE, OR THE EMPATHY TO SAVE
FELLOW CREATURES FROM EITHER INHUMANE CRUELTY OR EXTINCTION, IT JUST MAY BE TIME TO TURN OFF THE
LIGHTS, LOCK THE DOOR, AND DECLARE AMERICA A LOST CAUSE NATION.

THE WAY WE TREAT EACH OTHER AND WILD CREATURES MAKES ME SICK.I WOULD NEVER HAVE BELIEVED THAT THE AMERICA I ONCE KNEW WOULD DEGENERATE TO WHAT I SEE TODAY.

EVERY
YEAR, EVERY SINGLE YEAR, A NEW WILD THING DISAPPEARS FOREVER...AND WE
CAN CERTAINLY TAKE A CLOSE LOOK, IF WE CHOOSE TO, AT HOW MANY
"AMERICANS" GIVE A DAMN.

THE ABJECT CRUELTY I SEE ALL AROUND ME OFTEN MAKES ME ASHAMED THAT SUCH IS HAPPENING IN A NATION THAT ONCE MADE ROOM FOR ALL WHO WANTED TO LIVE HERE.THE DAYS OF LOOKING OUT FOR NEIGHBORS, WHETHER HUMAN OR ANIMAL, IS LONG GONE ALMOST EVERYWHERE HERE.

TRUE,
THE KILLING OFF OF WILDLIFE BEGAN ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE INFLUX
OF THE ILLEGAL EUROPEAN "IMMIGRANTS", BUT ONE MIGHT THINK AND HOPE THAT,
AFTER 500 YEARS, THEIR OFFSPRING WOULD HAVE LEARNED TO NOT
BE AFRAID OF "BIG BAD WOLVES"...TO NOT BE SCARED OF BUFFALO, WILD HORSES, WILD BURROS,
MOUNTAIN LIONS, BEARS, BOBCATS, COYOTES, EAGLES, HAWKS, SNAKES, EVEN NATIVE PLANTS
AND...."NATIVE AMERICANS", THOSE "WILD SAVAGES".

ONE MIGHT EVEN HAVE HOPED THAT "NATURAL SELECTION" JUST MIGHT HAVE "SELECTED" FOR A BRAVER, KINDER, MORE CONCERNED HUMAN ANIMAL...OBVIOUSLY NOT.

AS
A DESCENDANT OF THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE, THE ONES WHO STOOD ONSHORE AND
WATCHED THOSE FIRST BOATS ARRIVE, I HAVE JUST THIS TO SAY, IN
CLOSING, TO ANY AFRAID OF "WHAT'S OUT THERE IN THE DARK"....

BOO!

ABOVE: Rattlesnake mask, Cherokee people, Big Cove, North Carolina 17 inches,
carved walnut This mask is a warrior mask with a rattlesnake headdress
that may have been carved by Allen Long.